DH 150 - Oral Health Services II

Credit Hours: 4

Students will gain experience in the dental hygiene process of care while providing oral health services for patients. This course includes three modules and each module must be passed in order to pass DH 150. A lecture module and a clinic module will cover patient management, instrumentation techniques including ultrasonics, post-operative instructions, care and sharpening of instruments, production of diagnostically acceptable radiographs, polishing of teeth and stain removal, application of topical fluorides and anesthetics, instructing patients on oral self-care, self-assessment and critical thinking for the evaluation of patient care, dental operatory maintenance, sterilization and disinfection techniques, use of electronic patient records, and professional issues affecting dental hygiene practice. Students must recruit patients for scheduled clinic sessions. Practical exercises in the management of medical emergencies will be conducted. A second lecture module will prepare students with the verbal and motivational skills needed for oral health education for client groups of all ages. Discussions include writing objectives and developing lesson plans for group specific oral health instruction. Students will work collaboratively in small groups in a service learning opportunity to develop and deliver a presentation to a target audience of children in the community. Other topics will include dentifrices, mouth rinses and fluorides and re-mineralization therapies. Minimum passing grade for the clinical module is “C-” for competency assessments plus completion of specific clinical requirements. Minimum passing grade for lecture modules is “C-“.

Course Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

apply principles of professional, legal and ethical conduct, along with effective professional communication skills in all interactions with patients, peers, and other health care professionals;
apply medicolegal principles to the systematic collection, analysis and accurate recording of general, personal and oral health status of patients;
compose a planned sequence of care based on the dental hygiene diagnosis by identifying oral conditions, potential problems, etiologic and risk factors, and available treatment modalities;
analyze assessment data to implement a basic individualized patient education program;
appraise a target population, plan, develop, implement and evaluate an oral health education program with respect to age, nutritional needs, oral hygiene and caries prevention techniques, fluoride, habits, behaviors and problems with different age groups;
choose appropriate preventive and therapeutic treatment procedures to promote and maintain oral health;
evaluate the effectiveness of planned clinical and educational services and modify as necessary;
apply evidence-based decision making knowledge when providing dental hygiene services;
develop a knowledge base of current dental hygiene issues which impacts dental hygiene practice;
develop a PICO question, and identify and evaluate two research articles using the research pyramid to support the question; and
exhibit understanding and application of self-assessment and critical thinking.

Prerequisites: All required first semester courses in the Dental Hygiene curriculum must be passed.
Corequisites: All required spring semester, first year courses in the Dental Hygiene curriculum, EG022 or current BLS certification, physician completed SUNY Allied Health Report.
S (N)

Withdrawal from or failure of a required course prevents further progression in the curriculum. General education courses may be taken earlier than indicated but may not be taken later than the prescribed schedule.